SELWG 11 Report

I was looking forward to this year’s SELWG as it is, at the moment the only show that I have been able to have time to go too this year.

It has been 40 years since South East London Wargame Group was formed and so I was hoping for the show to be that little bit extra in the way of the biggest show ever?

Well on a hot Sunday morning at Crystal palace Sports Centre, I arrived at 10.45 am and no queue to get in. GREAT!

The entry fee this year went up a pound to £6 this year which is still good value these days at a wargaming show. Once inside I do what I normal do, and do a quite walk round the trade stands. I did not have anything major on my shopping list but was looking for that little bargain. But walking around, I then realised that the crowds where not all that big, so it looked like the attendance was once again down even from last years? Although it did pick up in the afternoon. Still that was good for me as I could have a good look around the famous Bring and Buy stall. As usual, lots on offer but nothing that caught my eye.

One thing that is starting to standing out in wargame magazines and on other peoples blogs is that the 28 mm figures are taking over. I could not find one trader that was selling Hat 20 mm figures at all. There were a few with their latest products of WW1 Guns and Crews but nothing else.

The passion for our hobby was still there as people from all walks of life were buying books, figures and plenty of terrain pieces.

On the wargaming front, the tables were well down on last years and half of them were in fact participation games, which was a very good thing to promote our hobby. Most of the tables were of American Civil War and WWII battles with a few fantasy games thrown in, there was not much else on offer.

The best layout for me was from the Herne Bay & Whitsable Club with their WWI game “Krush the Kaiser”. Love the way the trenches and no-man’s land were made.

Over the years the layouts are getting more creative and sometimes they are better looking than the models/figures.

So as I walked back from the centre to catch my bus, empty handed, I am now thinking that I should pay a visit to Salute next year as I have not been for a couple of years now.